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Espanola Superintendent Forced To Leave After Suspending Coach

It was a town divided over which school employee should lose their job -- a basketball coach who prayed with his team and got suspended or the superintendent who wanted to investigate in the first place.

It was a town divided over which school employee should lose their job -- a basketball coach who prayed with his team and got suspended or the superintendent who wanted to investigate in the first place.

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Updated: 7:26 AM MDT Apr 7, 2016

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WEBVTT ALIKHANI SHOWS US THE END TO TONIGHT'S DEBATE. WE DID RECEIVE A LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM HIM EFFECTIVE 30 DAYS FROM TODAY. [APPLAUSE] LIDA: THIS WAS NOT WHAT MOST PEOPLE EXPECTED TO HAPPEN TONIGHT LEAST OF ALL ESPANOLA VALLEY SUPERINTENDENT BOBBIE GUTIERREZ. DOZENS OF STUDENTS, PARENTS AND STAFFERS THOUGHT THEY'D LEARN THE FATE OF ESPANOLA VALLEY HIGH BASKETBALL COACH RICHARD MARTINEZ. HE WAS SUSPENDED AFTER LEADING THIS PRAYER BEFORE A GAME. BUT TONIGHT IT TURNED OUT MARTINEZ WASN'T THE ONLY ONE IN THE HOT SEAT. GUTIERREZ SUDDENLY FOUND HER JOB IN DANGER AFTER TAKING A LOT OF HEAT OVER THE MARTINEZ INVESTIGATION. BOARD MEMBERS LOCKED THEMSELVES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS TO DISCUSS HER FUTURE. HOURS LATER THEY CAME OUT AND ANNOUNCED GUTIERREZ WOULD STEP DOWN. SHE PLANNED TO STAY ANOTHER MONTH BUT INSTEAD. >> PUTTING HER ON LEAVE IMMEDIATEL LIDA: THE BOARD TOLD HER THANKS BUT NO THANKS. SOME IN THE CROWD WERE WORRIED THIS MIGHT HAPPEN INCLUDING HEAD FOOTBALL COACH MIGUEL MEDINA WHO STOOD ALL NIGHT WITH A SIGN THAT SAID IF GUTIERREZ GOES HE GOES. >> YOU CAN'T BLAME THE WOMAN FOR DOING HER JOB. LIDA: SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BASKETBALL COACH? AFTER THE BOARD'S CLOSED DOOR MEETING ABOUT RICHARD MARTINEZ NO ONE WILL SAY WHETHER HE KEPT HIS JOB AND WHETHER OR NOT THAT MIGHT CHANGE NOW THAT THE SUPERINTENDENT IS GONE. WE ARE GOING TO KEEP FOLLOWING

Espanola Superintendent Forced To Leave After Suspending Coach

It was a town divided over which school employee should lose their job -- a basketball coach who prayed with his team and got suspended or the superintendent who wanted to investigate in the first place.